May 5, 2010

Reflections and Updates

Posted in Uncategorized at 7:12 am by Keren

Yes, I am back in the States – its good to be home, but leaving Nablus was a very tearful experience – bittersweet, to say the least. This was my third time working with ISM, each time stationed in Nablus, and this time I felt like I really put down roots and put out branches. I left behind my wonderful Aussie buddy, Rocky, from whom I learned so much, and the beautiful and extremely bright Aussie, Bridget, who is being monitored by the Shin Bet. I left behind many friends (Palestinian and fellow ISMers) and I left behind a strong, proud, hardy people who are striving to end the injustice of the Israeli occupation.

So often I heard from them “We just want to live with dignity. We want our freedom.” Too often our media characterizes the Palestinians as “terrorists,” completely ignoring the state-sponsored terrorism carried on by Israel; completely ignoring their right to resistance to occupation, enshrined in international law; completely ignoring that these people are just like us – they want dignity and to be able to live their lives uninterrupted and without surveillance by an occupying power.

I will be sending out a notice for at least two more posts (after this one) related to my experience in the West Bank. I was in Hebron and Tel Rumeida last Wednesday and Thursday and want to report on that. The Saturday after I left, the ISM flat in Hebron was raided – only computers, cameras, flash drives, and camera card disks were taken – money and credit cards were left undisturbed. It appears that the Israeli Army are once again the culprits (the ISM apt in Ramallah was raided twice in February and the same things were taken) – information not money.

I also am compiling two photo albums that I will post in the near future – Faces of Palestine, and Flora of Palestine.

Returning home has been quite a bit of culture shock – all the white faces, the plethora of choices at the grocery store, the ability to take a shower (I didn’t have a shower for the 5 weeks I was there – had elephant/bucket baths instead which left me clean and refreshed but I really did miss the hot showers), having a washing machine – we did all our washing by hand in buckets or tubs and line-dried our clothes, and the ability to flush toilet paper in the toilet (because the pipes in Palestine cannot handle toilet paper, we had to put used toilet paper in a trash can).

Last Friday I went to Jerusalem to post some things home – things that I didn’t want to risk having with me in the airport. On the service ride I sat next to an older Palestinian woman who spoke very little English, but the gentleman next to her did and he happily translated. Her name was Bushra and on her neck she wore a pendant with a picture of her daughter who was murdered by the Israeli Army eight years ago. Her daughter was 20 years old, a student at An Najah University in Nablus, and was travelling to Ramallah when she was shot by an Israeli soldier. Bushra’s husband also has had most of his stomach removed as a result of beatings by Israeli soldiers. My heart went out to her, and to all those Palestinian families that have suffered similar losses – I heard story after story like this – how these people keep on keeping on in the face of these horrific abuses is beyond my understanding. Before Bushra and I parted we had exchanged contact information and I had received a standing invitation to visit her when I returned to Nablus “in a couple years, inshallah (God willing).”

Bushra

 

Picture of Bushra's murdered daughter

 

On Monday night, in the Nablus area, a mosque was torched by settlers, the villagers say.

Update on Sheikh Jarrah where the Palestinian families are having their homes confiscated by settlers. ISM has a tent where ISMers stay round the clock as a presence to both document, and hopefully mitigate, the vicious actions of the settlers. The latest news is that the settlers have now taken to throwing bags of vomit into the tent. There is no end to their vileness.

While I was in the West Bank, the Israeli government began implementing an order that is aimed at mass deportation of Palestinians from the West Bank. This order is also directed at internationals (like me) who come to assist the popular (and non-violent) struggle for justice. Just last week members of the Knesset proposed a new law that would ban Israeli human rights organizations that expose Israeli war crimes. See also: Israel’s democratic values: Punish human rights organizations, not war criminals.

I am pasting below an email from my Aussie buddy, Rocky, about his visit with a family whose two young daughters were murdered by Israeli soldiers. I beg of all of you to at the very least, share these blogs and stories with others. Our media does not report what Israel is doing to the Palestinians – there is more coverage in Israeli newspapers (Ha’aretz, primarily – look for the columns of Amira Hass, Gideon Levy, and Akiva Eldar) about Israeli Army atrocities than there is in the U.S.  If you are moved to do more, don’t hesitate to email me and ask for recommendations on websites, books, articles, etc. – a good place to start is If Americans Knew. I also encourage individuals to go to the West Bank and see for themselves. I remember the first time I worked with ISM – I had done all the research so I knew, intellectually, the situation on the ground. However, seeing the situation with my own eyes was a totally different thing – there’s something about the visual that impacts one much more deeply.

From Rocky:

“I’m feeling a bit shattered. Today I got a call out to visit a family living in a village in the Jordan Valley whose two young daughters had been killed in an “accident” a couple of days ago.

They were waiting by their father’s tractor when an Israeli army jeep drove into them. It then reversed back a few metres and drove into them again. Maasa (5) and Jana (8) were killed instantly and their brother Hussein (9) has a broken leg. The dreadful thing is that there will be no inquiry, the soldier driving won’t be punished, and there’s nothing that can be done about it. They are buried in one grave because their little bodies are all in pieces.

The family was so grateful that someone came out and listened to them and will try and tell their story. I’ll write it up and post it to my blog and try to get some press coverage for the story.

I went there and took photos and made notes for a report, sitting in the living room with the family. When I was shown their photo I had tears in my eyes and it was all I could do not to blubber. The Palestinians manage to hide their emotions better than I can.

I don’t think I can handle much more of this .It’s getting to me. I’ve seen too many photos of martyrs and heard too many stories.

Don’t worry. I’m a survivor, but its tough going at times. This is worse than any tear gas or bullets.”

And his formal report to ISM on the tragedy:

 

.  It houses the remains of two small sisters, their severed limbs and bodies buried as one, together forever under the sun, clouds and rain of their beloved Palestine.BaidaMeanwhile, a single, small grave has been dug in the graveyard at Al Ain al

That April day Emad Fakha had taken three of his four children to help in the fields after school, something they enjoyed, a treat. The children had climbed into the “basket” on the ground at the rear of the tractor, ready to be lifted up. Emad was preparing to start the motor when an Israeli military jeep swerved off the road, at speed, and rammed into the tractor from behind. While Hussein was thrown clear and suffered only a broken leg, the little girls didn’t stand a chance. With the body of one sister draped obscenely over its front bumper, the jeep reversed for five or six metres and then rammed once again into the tractor. What might have been a tragic accident is thus revealed for what it was – a cold-blooded murder.

Their jeep undriveable and so unable to escape, the soldiers threatened Emad with their rifles. More soldiers arrived but it was 25 minutes before the Israeli police reached the scene. The soldiers claimed that it was “an accident”, but Israeli citizen Eliazer Salam, from the settlement at Yama, who had witnessed the entire incident from his car, testified that the jeep driver had not applied his brakes at any stage and had, indeed, swerved off the road and accelerated into the tractor.

The jeep’s driver was arrested but there has been no news that he is to face any charges in a court of law. When I asked the family whether there would be an inquest (explaining that this was the usual procedure in Western, democratic countries) they didn’t understand the term.  They have no recourse to the protection of the law, as we know it. Far from protecting the civilian population of the territories which they occupy, as required under international law, the Israeli military brutalises and preys upon a helpless people.

Recent similar incidents in the Nablus region – at Awarta and in Jenin – where Israeli military vehicles have been used to run down pedestrians and ram a civilian car, with fatal consequences, seem to point to an emerging pattern. The psychopathic tendencies of certain members of the Israel Defence (sic) Force have found an outlet.

(the White Spring) is one of the few remaining Palestinian villages here. Its inhabitants scratch a living from what remains to them of their lands in this fertile and beautiful area.Baidain the northern Jordan Valley. Al Ain al  Baida(5) and their brother Hussein (9) never saw what hit them as they waited for their father to take them from the family fields to their home in the small village of Al Ain al  Maasa(8), her sister  Emad JanaaWe stopped by the roadside at the spot where the two little girls had been killed. Their blood still stained the cushion on which they had been sitting, fragments of the military jeep which had rammed their father’s tractor still littered the ground.

Photos courtesy of Rocky

I could not help but think about my good friend Marc Ellis’ remark: “If we throw strategy to the wind and end our hope for victory, then we are free to be faithful.” Thinking about it again this morning I realized anew that faithfulness is a very tall order because it is not only freeing, but it also binds us firmly & permanently to the suffering of others.

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