By Ayub Khan, IOL Correspondent 

EVANSTON, Illinois, May 3 (IslamOnline) - Chicago-based peace activists Kathy Kelly and Jeff Guntzel narrated harrowing eyewitness accounts of two weeks spent in the West Bank. The two were part of an international effort organized by the International Solidarity Movement to reduce violence in the region and nonviolently resist Israeli occupation of Palestine. 

Speaking to a jam-packed crowd at the Immanuel Lutheran Church in Evanston Thursday, Guntzel said that what is happening in Palestine is not a “war against terrorism,” but a war against the Palestinian people and their infrastructure. He said many children are still missing.  

Their group literally played hide-and-seek with Israeli soldiers in their efforts to travel through the West Bank. 

When they entered Ramallah, Guntzel said that what he saw was totally unbelievable. Devastation was everywhere with shops, Internet cafes, and homes, destroyed and burnt out. When group members argued with Israeli soldiers concerning the destruction and devastation, the group was told by soldiers that they were just doing their jobs and are not responsible. 

Israeli soldiers told the group that by providing relief, they were actually helping out the terrorists.

Guntzel said that, overall, it was a good and valuable experience, saying that he heard from a reliable source that the group's presence at a critical moment prevented a bloodbath. An Israeli commando raid was about to take place, but due to the presence of the internationals, it was called off. 

Talking about her visit to Jenin and the refugee camp there, Kelly said she heard eyewitnesses describing to her Israeli soldiers looting and pillaging in the camp. 

There was the stench of decomposing human bodies and the whole landscape looked surreal, she said. 

Accompanying her in Jenin was Thawra, a volunteer with the Palestine Medical Relief committee, and mother of an 18-day-old boy. The father had seen the boy only for a few minutes, and presently, the father’s whereabouts are unknown. Similar stories were heard several times during the group's stay in Palestine. 

In one small school, more than 800 people were crammed and living in inhumane conditions with a great risk of disease. Kelly said that there were virtually no international relief agencies when they visited, with the sole exception of UNICEF.  

Kelly said that U.S. tax dollars are being used to wreak this destruction on the helpless Palestinian people, and as result, that due to the U.S. government's policies, she has not paid her taxes since 1980.  

Kelly said she is an advocate of nonviolence, and condemns all forms of violence, including “suicide bombings.” But she said the actions of a few persons could not be used to justify violence against an entire people. 

She compared suicide bombers to the students in south side of Chicago who deal drugs because of their economic and social depravation. “We do not condemn the whole community just because these students deal in drugs,” she said. 

Kelly and Guntzell’s addresses was too much for a pro-Israeli youth who tried to disrupt the meeting by shouting, eventually walking off, knocking over a chair on his way out.