People cannot sleep in their homes any more. More than 300 families in Beit Jala have been spending their nights at different relatives and friends homes. Many other families refuse to leave their homes, because they are worried that the Israeli tanks would demolish them. Houses in Beit Jala now look like a battle field, sand bags cover most of the windows and doors. Bedrooms which overlook Gilo settlement now are empty rooms.
Families have to spend their nights in the inside rooms or under staircases.
In most cases residents of Beit Jala fall asleep out of exhaustion and fatigue sitting down or lying on the floor, when the shelling continous all night long. For the last three nights Beit Jala, Aida camp, Bethlehem the Holy city, Al-Khader and Husan village have been attacked by heavy artillery and missiles. A friend of mine called Nasser was seriously injured in Husan village. Many others from his village were also injured after Israeli settlers from the near-by settlement of Betar attacked the villagers on their way home from the mosque. I cannot describe how angry I am for all the destruction that Palestinian houses in Beit Jala have gone through.