|
Trending Topics
|
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/06/alan-johnston-return-palestinian-ghosts
West Bank Security and Prosperity - Will It Last?
(Observer-UK) Alan Johnston - I had often interviewed men like Abu Ahmed, but what was different this time was the way he spoke when we talked of the future and he explained why he had put down his gun. He gave every impression of having been ground down by the conflict. Abu Ahmed described what it had meant to live on the Israeli army's wanted list. "There was fear 24 hours a day. You might be only moments from death or jail." Like many militants in the West Bank city of Nablus over the past two years, Abu Ahmed has taken advantage of an amnesty program worked out between Israel and the PA. To the Israel Defense Forces, this looks like victory, but the situation was reversible, said IDF Lt.-Col. Avi Shalev. Indeed, nowhere in Nablus was there any real optimism that the calm would last. The writer, a BBC journalist, was held captive in Gaza for four months in 2007.