What Israel’s ‘Iron Wall’ means for displaced families fearing a second Nakba

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - Palestinian men carry a journalist after he was reportedly injured by Israeli security forces during a protest by residents of the Nur Shams refugee camp, near Tulkarem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, who had gathered at the entrance of the camp to demand the right to return to their homes. — AFP pic

TULKAREM, Nov 21 — Ten months after he was forced out of the occupied West Bank’s Tulkarem refugee camp, Hakam Irhil doesn’t know if he will ever be able to return.

Irhil was displaced and his home demolished after Israel launched a major military operation in mid-January in multiple northern Palestinian refugee camps, where the army says it is seeking to root out armed groups.

Israel, which has occupied the West Bank since 1967, calls the ongoing operation “Iron Wall”.

“Before the operation, in our house—even though it was in the camp—each child had a room. Our life was better,” the 41-year-old father of four told AFP.

Irhil now lives in a nearby school, and fears the temporary refuge could well become permanent.

The NGO Human Rights Watch warned in a report published Thursday that 32,000 Palestinians remain forcibly displaced due to Iron Wall.

‘War crimes’ 

Over the decades in Tulkarem camp—as with other Palestinian camps—tents gave way to concrete buildings, onto which new generations added floors to accommodate the growing population.

But in the last 10 months, the military has demolished more than 850 homes and other buildings across three camps, HRW said, blasting large arteries through the patchwork of alleyways to ease access for military vehicles.

The displacement of the camps’ residents, HRW concluded, was carried out through “violations of international law, including war crimes and crimes against humanity”.

It added that preventing displaced populations from returning and demolishing homes amounted to ethnic cleansing.

In a statement to AFP, the military said the camps in Tulkarem and Jenin had become “terror hubs, where terrorists operated from within civilian neighbourhoods”.

It added that there had been “a significant decrease in terrorist activity” as a result of Iron Wall—but declined to say when the operation would end.

Irhil’s family is one of 19 now living in the school.

“There is no privacy at all. I’m living in a room that’s actually a classroom—me and the five with me,” Irhil said, adding he had put curtains up to give his daughter some space.

In the covered outdoor corridors, Irhil and the other families have appropriated the space, setting up planters on ledges, a dish-washing station in a classroom sink, and clotheslines between the columns.

Residents of the Nur Shams refugee camp, near Tulkarem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, gather at the entrance of the camp during a protest demanding the right to return to their homes. — AFP pic

No access 

Near Tulkarem city’s other refugee camp, Nur Shams, displaced residents organised a demonstration Monday to demand the right to return home.

“We are trying to convey to the army that enough is enough. We are innocent, so why did they expel us from the camp?” said Nur Shams resident Umm Mohammad al-Jammal, who was displaced in February.

“This is collective punishment... Why did they do this to us?”

Hesitantly, the crowd of about 150 passed the newly-installed gate on the road to the camp, before stopping and chanting at its entrance, an ascending street now littered with rubble from damaged homes.

The air was thick with the stench of a decomposing dog, left out to rot with no residents around to remove it.

Gunfire rang out from inside the camp, where Israeli troops are stationed, and an Al Jazeera journalist was shot in the leg, sending the crowd running.

The army told AFP that demonstrators “violated a closed military zone”, and acknowledged firing at “a key disturber”, accusing him of refusing to comply with soldiers’ commands.

Refugee camps were created in the West Bank, Gaza and neighbouring Arab countries after the first Arab-Israeli war for Palestinians who fled or were expelled from what is now Israel at the time of its creation in 1948.

The event, known as the Nakba, vividly lives on in Palestinian collective memory, and camp residents like Irhil fear the history of displacement—which many also thought would be temporary in 1948 -- will repeat itself.

Rumours about possible return dates now circulate among the camp’s residents.

“They say ‘in January, you will return’. So in January we prepare ourselves, thinking we’ll return to the camp, return to normal life,” Irhil said.

“Then another decision comes—February, March, April...” — AFP