Chapter 15 11.beqaa refugee camp

The cruel man sprinkled tobacco powder in the eyes of the macaque.For no reason... — Solzhenitsyn The rain has lasted for four days, and this morning (25th), it has turned into light snow.The coldest season of the year in Jordan is finally here, with a temperature of -1°C.A large number of foreign journalists have entered Israel, Saudi Arabia and Turkey through several routes.A small number of journalists who stayed in Amman hibernated like bullfrogs in the Intercontinental Hotel.Only a few restless reporters planned new adventures regardless of the wind and snow. Mike Ketch of CBS is my old friend in Baghdad, and he asked me to go to the streets this morning.At the entrance of the InterContinental Hotel, the energetic Mike was carrying a Sony tape recorder and wearing a black down jacket. Standing shyly beside him was a small and exquisite Asian girl whom Mike introduced as his friend.The little girl's name is Yuli, and she is a text reporter for the Indonesian "Tampo".Mike had already hired a taxi, and he triumphantly told me that the driver, Mohammad, was a Palestinian, so that we could be absolutely safe.Four of us, of different races, formed a little United Nations army.

We first went to the Iraqi embassy in Amman, and there were three security policemen standing at the gate of the embassy.A dark gray wheeled light armored vehicle blocked the main entrance of the embassy. The heavy machine gun on the vehicle was covered with a green rain jacket, and the soldier manipulating the machine gun huddled in his raincoat and smoked.We knocked on the small bars of the Iraqi embassy, ​​claiming to be going to Baghdad.There were three Iraqis in the small window, and they handed out a piece of cardboard through the small window without saying a word, on which was filled with English characters in regular script with a black marker: "Dear passengers, due to the Iraq’s aggression, we regret to inform you that visa processing is suspended. We welcome you to visit Iraq in the near future.” No matter what Mike and Yuli said, the people inside just kept silent.

Mohammad, the taxi driver, volunteered to take us to the Bekaa Palestinian refugee camp on the east bank of the Jordan River, assuring that it would be absolutely fine and that his home was there. Driving west from Amman, the rain was getting heavier and heavier, and the car glass was covered with a thick layer of breath. The driver Muhammad took out a large handful of napkins from the car toolbox and asked Yuli to help him wipe the stains on the front windshield. steam.After driving for about an hour, the driver Mohammed told us that we had entered the Bekaa Valley. He triumphantly rolled down the car glass and greeted the Palestinians on the side of the road.He said: "You can take pictures, don't be afraid when the police come, this is the world of Palestinians!" At this time, he suddenly stepped on the brakes, beckoned a middle-aged man in poor clothes to come over, and threw a bullet to the man. coin.The driver, Muhammad, told us that this man was a madman, "I want to go home like crazy"!

The driver Mohammed knew almost everyone here, and the owner of a grocery store by the roadside was actually his in-laws.He took us to the gate of a mosque surrounded by iron bars, and then plunged into the sea of ​​worshipers to say his Jumah prayers.Mike, Yuli, and I also split up: what I wanted were photos, what Mike wanted was audio recordings, and Yuli claimed to have an exclusive interview. In the "Sixth Five-Year" War in 1967 (also known as the "Six-Day" War, the third Middle East War), Israel fought on several fronts at the same time, destroying Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and other "unfriendly countries" in one fell swoop. With the largest air force, the Israeli armored forces have crossed the Suez Canal to the west, wedged into Syria to the north, and attacked Jordan to the east.A large number of Arab refugees were displaced and flowed to countries in the Middle East.Among them, more than 100,000 Palestine refugees are stranded in Jordan on the east bank of the Jordan River. The United Nations built the Bekaa refugee camp for this purpose.

The people living here are all Palestinians.The local residents usually have two or three small flat-roofed houses. The roofs are piled with firewood and covered with thin wires to dry clothes. The houses are heated by small kerosene stoves. Every household has a TV. Women are not allowed to take pictures of outsiders.The UN has also built simple hospitals and schools for the refugee camps. Camille speaks good English. There are three flat-roofed houses in his family, one is the kitchen, and the other is being renovated. Mike and I took off our sneakers covered in yellow mud and were ushered into the living room and bedroom of his house to sit on the floor.Camille's young and beautiful wife made Turkish coffee for us on the kerosene stove in the middle of the house. She held a coffee cup the size of a small Chinese wine cup with her pointed fingers and placed it in front of Mike and me.The coffee has a pungent spice smell, spicy, with a hint of mint.I hold the scalding coffee mug tightly in both hands, afraid of spilling it on the brand-new woolen rug.Kamil said the carpet was made in Saudi Arabia.Along the walls of the house are neatly stacked blankets for sleeping at night.On the east wall of the house is a huge portrait of Saddam hugging a Palestinian child.A 5-inch color photo is pasted in the lower right corner of the portrait, which is Camille's beautiful wife.The three toddlers huddled behind Camille's wife and watched the 20-inch Sony color TV showing the US bombing oil tankers off the coast of Iraq.Footage of oil spilling onto the sea and seabirds dying.Kamil said he bought the house for 2,000 Jordanian dinars (about $2,500), thanks to Jordanian authorities, while Kuwait rejected his request to buy the house.

Kemil stretched out his hands: "Saddam didn't give me a penny, and I don't particularly like him. The problem is that he thinks about us Palestinians. I have no other demands. I want to go home!" said Here, he pouted at his wife, and the docile little wife immediately jumped up, climbed to the top of the cabinet, and took a small cloth bag.Camille took out a small dark green book and said it was his Palestinian identity card.He said he was grateful to the United Nations for running the school in the Bekaa refugee camp, although the standard was only "OK", not good, but it was free after all.Speaking of this, he bowed to me: "China also paid for us to build a school." He asked his four-year-old daughter Rich Hardan to perform counting in English for us, Xiaoha Dan can count to "10".Camille said that she learned all her English from TV.

At this time, deafening slogans sounded on the streets, and tens of thousands of Palestine refugees flocked to the streets to start demonstrations.They chanted slogans of peace, support for Saddam and down with Bush, with a large portrait of the Jerusalem Mosque at the front of the line.Kamil says there are "150,000 Palestine refugees" here!Parades of this size are regular.The parade is mighty and mighty, marching slowly around the Bekaa refugee camp.