I reported what was occurring in the village, and was informed that someone had thrown stones at cars travelling on the road. No one had bothered, of course, to investigate if the story were true, and if it were, was the stone thrower from Marda. No. The army just came in and caused havoc. The IOF figures that if someone is throwing rocks (and there was no proof that anyone was--no rocks on the street, for instance), then someone has to pay the price. No matter that the rock-thrower was nebulous, and no matter that if he/she really existed, he/she might not have been from Marda at all.

Residents of Marda were ordered to remain indoors. The IOF's finishing touch that evening was to close off the single remaining unblocked entrance into the village, which now sports boulders blocking vehicle traffic. Fortunately there is a field next to the road. One can therefore drive through, now in the summer. But when it rains, the mud will make that nearly impossible.

On Sunday, I came to view the damage, bringing along 3 people who had come to the OPTs with me so as to learn a little about life under occupation. Lesson number 1: If you are a Palestinian, don't count your olive trees; they may be here today but gone tomorrow.

Things remained quiet for the better part of the week. The next episode began Friday, July 29. Friday is the Muslim sabbath, so to speak. So naturally the IOF began early. It entered the village at about 6:30 AM, blowing sirens and shooting stun bombs again. I phoned the Civil Administration. Woke up the lady on duty. She was so sleepy that she forgot to ask my name, but wide enough awake to inform me that Marda was under curfew. Why? She refused to tell me, and perhaps couldn't, because there was no reason. A phone call to Marda confirmed that the village was indeed under curfew, but that the IOF jeeps and soldiers had left. Therefore villagers were not paying attention to the curfew. At noon this changed. The bulldozer once again began uprooting more trees. The action lasted an hour. The civil administration refused to reveal why these trees had been removed. A total of some 25 trees had been uprooted.

Episode 3 began this evening at around 8:00 PM (I learned of it only at 9:00). Two jeep loads of soldiers (around 8) had entered the house of my friend, had frightened the 3 small children, had pointed their rifles at the elderly parents of my friend, and in general had scared everyone stiff, while ransaking the house. A real pogrom! I don't know what else to call it. This had never before occurred in Marda. Finally the soldiers left the house, and my friend was able to call. While in the house, they had taken away his cell phone, but returned it upon leaving. Three women from the IWPS (from whom I'd first learned about the incursion) arrived by 9:30, two of whom remained the night. Good thing they did. I phoned Dan.