Chapter 22 18.West Bank – Photographic Interviews Without Photography

Palestine...it's a hopeless, joyless, heartbreaking place. _--Mark Twain After visiting the small town of Jericho in the West Bank with a large number of foreign journalists arranged by the Israeli government, I am convinced that the curfew in the West Bank has been lifted.But Japanese journalist Murata Shinichi who was traveling with him disagreed.This guy has been running in the Middle East for many years. A year ago, he was in distress on the West Bank with the famous Japanese reporter Hisashi Asai.Asai was caught by Israeli soldiers that time and was arrested in the name of trespassing in a military zone.But Asai didn't change his face, took out his densely packed notebook, pointed to the Japanese text on it, and said: "I am from the Japan Aid to the Third World Association. I am here to inspect the terrain and plan to build a hospital." The Israeli army was dumbfounded. Asai was confused, and Asai was released.

Murata said that my Xinhua News Agency press card and the press card issued by the Israeli government were useless, and that I had to have a real Arab press card in the West Bank.From the east of the Damascus Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem to the entire West Bank, the bearded Murata is known to everyone, and no one even knows that he is a Japanese "Shinichi" (Murata) and calls him "Mohanmed" (Muhammad).Murata claimed that taking photos so desperately was not for bravery but for money, because he fell in love with Palestinian women, "Palestine women have big eyes and long legs".But the dowry required a large amount of gold jewelry, and in two months he would be able to earn enough dollars to buy gold.But until I went to Israel for the fourth time in 1993, I saw Murata still lying in front of the gate of Damascus. After hugging and drinking, I asked him how "Beautiful Eyes and Long Legs" was, and he sighed bitterly, "It's hard to say," and there was no more.

In a secluded small building at the northeast corner of the Damascus Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem, I received a press card printed in Arabic and English.My standard image was embossed with a purple flying eagle and read: "Foreign journalists, please help." In the early morning of February 18, Murata took me to a small building near the "American Colonial Hotel" in Jerusalem.A Palestinian woman in her thirties received us.She ordered me to put the camera in the bag, and then took us into a stretched diesel-fired Mercedes-240D sedan, and drove out of Jerusalem, heading northeast.

In the "Six-Day War" in 1967, the Israeli Air Force commanded by Chief of Staff Rabin destroyed the air forces of all hostile Arab countries such as Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq in one day.The Israeli Air Force, known as Israel's long arm, controls the air supremacy in the Middle East.Afterwards, the Israeli army marched westward through the Suez Canal to occupy the entire Sinai Peninsula, northward occupied the Golan Heights and parts of southern Lebanon, and eastward occupied the entire Palestinian area of ​​the West Bank including East Jerusalem. The Israelis called the West Bank Judea.Because it is located on the West Bank of the Jordan River, it is called the "Occupied Territory of the West Bank of the Jordan River", referred to as the West Bank, which also includes the Jordan Valley.The occupied territory of the West Bank is 5,878 square kilometers, and the main cities are Ramla, Nablus, Bethlehem and Hebron."Today we are going to Ramla," the Palestinian woman told me.

At noon, when we arrived in Ramla, the Palestinian woman handed Murata and me over to a young man in olive green winter clothing.It is said that the young man named Ali has a pair of cross-eyed eyes.Ali said that the martial law is still going on here, and taking pictures is absolutely not allowed, and it will be troublesome to be caught by the Israeli army!He squinted his squinted eyes and stared at the infinite sky behind me: "You will see the real battle." It reminded me of the Albanian movies I saw when I was a child, which was terrifying, bloody, heart-pounding, and exciting.

Accompanied by Ali, we veiled Arab checked turbans and hurried among the Palestinians.The walls here are spray-painted with anti-Israel slogans like Gaza, Jericho and East Jerusalem, as well as Iraqi, PLO and Soviet flags and Scud missiles.Over our heads were heavily loaded Israeli soldiers, armed with M-16s and Galils, some with tear gas launchers attached to their muzzles.Murata said that he has been exposed to many gas bombs, and once encountered a "sound bomb", which stuns the enemy by making a loud noise.On the street, three military jeeps with barbed wire fences passed slowly, the doors were wide open, revealing seven or eight black rifles, like long thorns on porcupines.Murata said that the possibility of shooting at any time here is "more dangerous than any danger" I have experienced.Ali seemed to know everyone here, and as he scurried mysteriously along the walls, nodding in every direction, he led us into a grocery store and ordered us to stay put.

Suddenly, three men in black appeared at the corner, quickly rolled two car tires to the middle of the road as if they were playing a horror film, poured gasoline and some yellow liquid on them like a magic trick, the fire immediately burst into flames, and thick smoke rushed straight into the road. sky.Terrible police seedlings roared up, and Israeli jeeps galloped over. Stones in the air were like rain, hitting the jeep's protective net with ping-pong noises.Soldiers fired tear gas.I couldn't help but picked up the camera and rushed out of the grocery store, but before I could press the shutter, an Israeli jeep rushed towards me. The soldier in the car pointed a gun at me and ordered me to stay still, with his index finger firmly pressed on the trigger. , The muzzle of the black hole is like the gate of hell.I walked up to the soldiers with my hands up, and when I looked back, Ali and Murata were gone.The soldiers took away the press card from my chest, and I leaned against the jeep to dodge the stones constantly flying from all directions.Suddenly a whistle sounded, and Shi Yu stopped abruptly, freeing me from the predicament where I had a rifle and Shi Yu was attacked by enemies.Israeli soldiers took away my press card, wrote down my name and card number, and asked me if I had taken a photo. I pointed to the film counting window "1" on the Nikon camera and showed it to him to show my innocence, but I Knowing my camera, this kid is already in action at "0".Then, I respectfully told the Israeli soldiers that I was a tourist and wanted to go to the Dead Sea, but the taxi driver somehow pulled me here, and I disappeared afterwards.I think I've run into a terrorist.I'm scared, thanks to you guys who came to my rescue, can you please help me find a taxi back to Jerusalem?The Israeli soldiers dubiously said that this place is closed and no one is allowed to enter, so you leave immediately!Don't let me run into you again!

I turned and returned, with the whistle ringing incessantly in my ears.I lowered my head and glanced at the shop on the right. A woman with a black veil was lying on the window and whistling, which was connected with the whistle in the distance.Turning the corner, Murata and Ali were waving at me.I followed them into a white car. The car turned east and west, and came to a secluded street, where two children were sitting in front of an iron gate and biting their fingers.Ali said that the older of the two children was Karim, a boy, 2 and a half years old; the younger was Ser, a girl, 1 and a half years old.Their 17-year-old eldest brother Nasser was arrested for throwing Molotov cocktails at Israeli soldiers, for which they sealed their home with a military torch.

In the Al Amar refugee camp, a Palestinian woman named Nafy washes clothes outside a tent next to the ruins, surrounded by a group of dirty children and a small yellow dog. Nafy said that her 21-year-old son organized an operation group to assassinate Palestinian "traitors" who worked for the Israeli government in December 1990, for which he was sentenced to 120 years in prison, and her house was bombed by the Israeli army.According to her, the Israeli army has demolished more than 300 anti-Israel houses in this area in the past three years. Mohammad Yusuf, 53, from the Kadulla refugee camp, was arrested and had his identity cards confiscated because four of his 10 children were engaged in anti-Israel activities.Due to the curfew and lack of ID, he had to stay at home.He showed us that his family only had two plates of fried cauliflower for lunch.

In the refugee camp, Israeli soldiers sealed the exit with gasoline barrels and cement, and we were able to enter the village through a "secret path" that no one knew about, led by a Palestinian teenager.There are fortifications of the Israeli army on the commanding heights in the distance. We cannot take pictures because we are afraid of being spotted by the telescope of the Israeli army. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, when we were about to return to Jerusalem, we couldn't find a taxi in the whole city of Ramla.Because the 4 o'clock curfew will start again, and Palestinian taxis with blue license plates cannot go out.Only cars with Israeli yellow plates are allowed to go out.

We had no choice but to show the Arab press card we carried with us and turn to local Arab reporters for help.A female reporter finally found a blue-plated Burroughs taxi that was willing to take risks, but agreed to only take us to Al Ram, where yellow-plated taxis could be found.The female reporter wrote down the names, addresses and phone numbers of Murata and me, and she said that if we hadn't returned to the hotel after 12 hours.She just "reported" to the outside, and she said seriously that it is not surprising that the reporter "disappeared" here.Along the way, the driver ordered me to turn on the lights in the car, take off the large Arab headscarf on my head, and reveal my bright red sportswear.I asked him why, and he said that in this way, people outside the car could see at a glance that the people sitting in the car were non-combatants, and they were foreigners.The Palestinians will not throw stones at foreigners, and the Israeli army will not shoot at foreigners casually. In a war, not any outstanding reporter can be a militant reporter and be competent to cover hotspots in the world.War correspondents need special skills, insight, and sufficient knowledge to back them up.Beginners are not only difficult to interview on the battlefield because of ignorance, but also become victims of war because they do not have proper field protection experience.According to the Pentagon announcement in 1991, there were 1,600 journalists from various countries in eastern Saudi Arabia at that time. They did not understand military affairs and had poor interviewing skills.A TV reporter from Iowa actually asked the serious US colonel: "What is the password to cross the Iraqi defense line?" Usually in a war, journalists covering both sides who are under fire from both sides should wear the most eye-catching clothes to identify themselves However, many reporters prefer to wear the above-mentioned combat uniforms, and the patterns of the camouflage are also irrelevant.Tropical jungle camouflage is only suitable for Cambodia, and it is obviously a living target for snipers in the Middle East desert. In the evening, we finally returned to Jerusalem.At AseeIPressService in Dongcheng, we learned that the Israeli government closed two more offices of Arab journalists in the West Bank today.I'm really worried about the female reporter who helped us back to Jerusalem this afternoon, maybe her office will be on the list tomorrow.