I just ran across this short video clip on B'tselem's (an Israeli human rights organization) website today. It focuses on life in the Palestinian village of Tuba and the harassment against them by the nearby Israeli settlers. Tuba is near Tuwani and I stayed there a couple times to accompany shepherds and document harassment by settlers. There is also footage from after the 2004 attack by masked settlers. They attacked Tuba children and two CPTers who were walking to school.
http://btselem.org/English/Video/200509_Southern_Hebron_Hills.asp
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Friday, August 10, 2007
All in a Day's Work
CPT's work in the south Hebron Hills as well as the normal events in the area can be difficult to understand. Below you'll find an update CPT sends out about events in At-Tuwani and the surrounding villages. For those of you who don't receive these updates via email, I hope this will give you a better idea of the work we do and the challenges facing people in the area:
AT-TUWANI UPDATE: 11-24 July 2007
Every day during this period, the team accompanied Palestinian shepherds in fields near Israeli settlements and settler outposts. The team monitored several temporary Israeli military checkpoints on the Palestinian road leading from At-Tuwani north to Yatta. On team during this period were members of Operation Dove ( called "Doves") and CPTers Diane Janzen, Sarah Scruggs, Matthew Chandler, and Peggy Gish.
Wednesday 11 July
CPTers Chandler and Janzen monitored a temporary checkpoint on Road 317 in the late afternoon. The soldiers briefly stopped a Palestinian fromAt-Tuwani who later told Janzen the soldiers had yelled at him to run towards them. He had just kept walking, and when he got to the jeep, the soldiers asked him why he did not run and he told them he had already walked two km. When the soldiers saw the CPTers coming down the hill one said,"Here come the sons of bitches."
Friday 13 July
Chandler and Gish walked to Tuba in the morning. About 10:00 a.m., a settler security guard and the Israeli army arrived in the area and told the Tuba shepherds they were on Ma'on land. The soldiers said the shepherds were allowed to be on the farmed land lower in the valley, but not up on the hillside. After several minutes of arguing, some of the Palestinians started to leave the area and the soldiers left with the settler security guard.
Saturday 14 July
In Tuba, the settler security guard and the army came again and told the Palestinians they were on Ma'on land. When Chandler and Gish arrived, Palestinians were telling the soldiers the whole valley was theirs and the Israeli military's civil administration, called the District Coordinating Office (DCO), confirmed this ownership two weeks earlier. The soldiers threatened to arrest one of the teenage boys. A Palestinian asked Chandler to call the DCO. The DCO finally promised to send someone after a call from an Israeli peace activist.
Two more army jeeps, a police jeep, and two border police jeeps arrived and an hour later, the DCO. All of the Israeli forces congregated to speak tothe DCO captain. Afterwards, the police returned the IDs to the Palestinian men and said the valley in question was in fact open to the Palestinians for grazing, but not for farming. One Palestinian told him that assertion was false and said he wanted to speak to the DCO directly.
The DCO captain came and explained the entire valley did indeed belong tothe people of Tuba, and they could use it freely. However, he insisted the Palestinians coordinate with the DCO whenever they want to work the land. One Palestinians told him there was no point in this coordination because the DCO never comes when they do call.
Sunday 15 July
Janzen and Scruggs visited a family in the village of Mughayir el Abeed. The father of the family told the CPTers that at 10:00 a.m., a truck drove toward him, his sons, and their sheep. A settler emerged from the truck and pointed a gun at them. The Palestinians then descended into the valley and the settler drove away.
Monday 16 July
Janzen and Scruggs went to observe a temporary checkpoint on Road 317, where the police had stopped a car coming from Yatta and were blocking the passage of other vehicles. One of the police officers asked for Scruggs' ID. After she gave him her passport, he told her if she did not stop taking photos and leave in two minutes he would arrest her. Scruggs moved to the other side of Road 317 and Janzen arrived. About ten minutes later, the Israeli police moved their vehicle to allow other vehicles to pass. After another fifteen minutes, police returned the IDs to the Palestinians and drove away.
Wednesday 18 July
While accompanying shepherds in Khoruba valley, Janzen and Scruggs observed a Palestinian woman walking with her children in the valley toward At-Tuwani. A settler came down from the wooden house in Hill 833 and sat above the road the family was going to walk on. The Palestinians moved to the opposite side of the valley and continued on their way.
Thursday 19 July
In the afternoon, Gish, Chandler, Janzen and Scruggs joined residents of At-Tuwani in a meeting with consulate staff from Australia, Ireland, Norway, and Portugal at the school in At-Tuwani.
At 4:45pm, a plain truck entered At-Tuwani from Hill 833 and drove to a Palestinian home nearby. When Janzen and Chandler arrived, they saw two armed men in the truck: the driver was in civilian clothes, and the passenger in an army uniform. The driver had a still camera and was taking pictures of everyone, but left almost immediately after Janzen and Chandler arrived.
After the truck left, the Palestinians told Chandler and Janzen the men said they were with the DCO, but did not act like typical DCO personnel. They told everyone at the house they had to go inside, and when they did not, the armed men cocked their guns and threatened to start shooting. In the midst of this encounter, they took pictures of construction at the house, saying it was forbidden and would be demolished.
After the incident, one of the Palestinians called the DCO, who said they would come to At-Tuwani. Chandler and Janzen waited at the house until sunset. The DCO never came.
Friday, 20 July
Chandler and Gish responded to a call from a Palestinian regarding settlers from Susya settlement planting on Palestinian land near Qawawis. The CPTers filmed and took pictures of three settlers working in the field and then returned to At-Tuwani.
The same Palestinian man from Susiya called later saying the police and Palestinian landowners had come to the area. When Chandler and a Dove arrived, the police were speaking with the settlers who had been working the land. Up to twenty settlers from the Susya settlement gradually arrived and talked with each other on the side of the road. An army jeep and later two more and two border police jeeps arrived.
An hour later, when the DCO officer arrived, he went first to speak with the police and army present. Several settlers argued with them. In the meantime, settlers approached the Palestinians, Chandler and the Dove. The border police intervened to try to keep the two groups separate. Finally, the DCO spoke with one of the Palestinian landowners and told him they had to investigate the matter further to decided who owned the plot of land. Then they declared the area a closed military zone.
Saturday, 21 July
A group of seventy-five Palestinian children from the Hebron area led by a Palestinian peace activist arrived in At-Tuwani for a solidarity visit. When they walked back to their busses parked on Road 317, an army jeep was there. The soldiers said the driver of one of the busses was suspicious because he had Israeli plates stored in the bus, and Palestinians plates on the bus. The soldiers insisted the group must wait for the police to arrive and showed no regard for the children who were forced to wait in the heatwithout water.
The police arrived after about forty-five minutes. The children protested while waiting, chanting and crowding around the army and police, saying, "We want to go," and, "We want water." The police and army responded by shouting at the children to go away. After about an hour and a half the police gave the driver of one bus a citation for parking illegally on theroad. The group then left for a tour of Qawawis.
Sunday, 22 July
Chandler and Gish returned to the plot of land near Qawawis where settlers had been working on Friday to join four other internationals in documenting Israeli settlers' efforts on the Palestinian-owned land. Soldiers tried to stop them from going out into the field where the settlers were working, but they went anyway. After the settlers left, they went out and filmed around the work site, where the tractor sat. When they got back to the road, about fifteen teenage settlers came, took their pictures and taunted them. Another military vehicle and police also came to the scene.
When the Palestinian landowners arrived, the CPTers and internationals stood around them and their car to protect them from the settler youth. The landowners spoke to the police, who told them they would have to go to the Kiryat Arba police station the following morning to file their complaint.
Monday, 23 July
The owners of the land where settlers from Susya had been working the previous evening went to the Kiryat Arba police station as directed, but the police did not allow them in to file their complaint.
A Palestinian came by in the evening and told the team he had just returnedfrom the Israeli High Court case regarding the wall along Road 317. The court ruled the Israeli army must disassemble the wall within two weeks and everyday after that time, if they have not removed it, they must pay the Palestinians in villages south of the wall a large sum of money.
Tuesday, 24 July
A Palestinian reported to the team in the late afternoon that the army had started to disassemble the wall along Route 317.
AT-TUWANI UPDATE: 11-24 July 2007
Every day during this period, the team accompanied Palestinian shepherds in fields near Israeli settlements and settler outposts. The team monitored several temporary Israeli military checkpoints on the Palestinian road leading from At-Tuwani north to Yatta. On team during this period were members of Operation Dove ( called "Doves") and CPTers Diane Janzen, Sarah Scruggs, Matthew Chandler, and Peggy Gish.
Wednesday 11 July
CPTers Chandler and Janzen monitored a temporary checkpoint on Road 317 in the late afternoon. The soldiers briefly stopped a Palestinian fromAt-Tuwani who later told Janzen the soldiers had yelled at him to run towards them. He had just kept walking, and when he got to the jeep, the soldiers asked him why he did not run and he told them he had already walked two km. When the soldiers saw the CPTers coming down the hill one said,"Here come the sons of bitches."
Friday 13 July
Chandler and Gish walked to Tuba in the morning. About 10:00 a.m., a settler security guard and the Israeli army arrived in the area and told the Tuba shepherds they were on Ma'on land. The soldiers said the shepherds were allowed to be on the farmed land lower in the valley, but not up on the hillside. After several minutes of arguing, some of the Palestinians started to leave the area and the soldiers left with the settler security guard.
Saturday 14 July
In Tuba, the settler security guard and the army came again and told the Palestinians they were on Ma'on land. When Chandler and Gish arrived, Palestinians were telling the soldiers the whole valley was theirs and the Israeli military's civil administration, called the District Coordinating Office (DCO), confirmed this ownership two weeks earlier. The soldiers threatened to arrest one of the teenage boys. A Palestinian asked Chandler to call the DCO. The DCO finally promised to send someone after a call from an Israeli peace activist.
Two more army jeeps, a police jeep, and two border police jeeps arrived and an hour later, the DCO. All of the Israeli forces congregated to speak tothe DCO captain. Afterwards, the police returned the IDs to the Palestinian men and said the valley in question was in fact open to the Palestinians for grazing, but not for farming. One Palestinian told him that assertion was false and said he wanted to speak to the DCO directly.
The DCO captain came and explained the entire valley did indeed belong tothe people of Tuba, and they could use it freely. However, he insisted the Palestinians coordinate with the DCO whenever they want to work the land. One Palestinians told him there was no point in this coordination because the DCO never comes when they do call.
Sunday 15 July
Janzen and Scruggs visited a family in the village of Mughayir el Abeed. The father of the family told the CPTers that at 10:00 a.m., a truck drove toward him, his sons, and their sheep. A settler emerged from the truck and pointed a gun at them. The Palestinians then descended into the valley and the settler drove away.
Monday 16 July
Janzen and Scruggs went to observe a temporary checkpoint on Road 317, where the police had stopped a car coming from Yatta and were blocking the passage of other vehicles. One of the police officers asked for Scruggs' ID. After she gave him her passport, he told her if she did not stop taking photos and leave in two minutes he would arrest her. Scruggs moved to the other side of Road 317 and Janzen arrived. About ten minutes later, the Israeli police moved their vehicle to allow other vehicles to pass. After another fifteen minutes, police returned the IDs to the Palestinians and drove away.
Wednesday 18 July
While accompanying shepherds in Khoruba valley, Janzen and Scruggs observed a Palestinian woman walking with her children in the valley toward At-Tuwani. A settler came down from the wooden house in Hill 833 and sat above the road the family was going to walk on. The Palestinians moved to the opposite side of the valley and continued on their way.
Thursday 19 July
In the afternoon, Gish, Chandler, Janzen and Scruggs joined residents of At-Tuwani in a meeting with consulate staff from Australia, Ireland, Norway, and Portugal at the school in At-Tuwani.
At 4:45pm, a plain truck entered At-Tuwani from Hill 833 and drove to a Palestinian home nearby. When Janzen and Chandler arrived, they saw two armed men in the truck: the driver was in civilian clothes, and the passenger in an army uniform. The driver had a still camera and was taking pictures of everyone, but left almost immediately after Janzen and Chandler arrived.
After the truck left, the Palestinians told Chandler and Janzen the men said they were with the DCO, but did not act like typical DCO personnel. They told everyone at the house they had to go inside, and when they did not, the armed men cocked their guns and threatened to start shooting. In the midst of this encounter, they took pictures of construction at the house, saying it was forbidden and would be demolished.
After the incident, one of the Palestinians called the DCO, who said they would come to At-Tuwani. Chandler and Janzen waited at the house until sunset. The DCO never came.
Friday, 20 July
Chandler and Gish responded to a call from a Palestinian regarding settlers from Susya settlement planting on Palestinian land near Qawawis. The CPTers filmed and took pictures of three settlers working in the field and then returned to At-Tuwani.
The same Palestinian man from Susiya called later saying the police and Palestinian landowners had come to the area. When Chandler and a Dove arrived, the police were speaking with the settlers who had been working the land. Up to twenty settlers from the Susya settlement gradually arrived and talked with each other on the side of the road. An army jeep and later two more and two border police jeeps arrived.
An hour later, when the DCO officer arrived, he went first to speak with the police and army present. Several settlers argued with them. In the meantime, settlers approached the Palestinians, Chandler and the Dove. The border police intervened to try to keep the two groups separate. Finally, the DCO spoke with one of the Palestinian landowners and told him they had to investigate the matter further to decided who owned the plot of land. Then they declared the area a closed military zone.
Saturday, 21 July
A group of seventy-five Palestinian children from the Hebron area led by a Palestinian peace activist arrived in At-Tuwani for a solidarity visit. When they walked back to their busses parked on Road 317, an army jeep was there. The soldiers said the driver of one of the busses was suspicious because he had Israeli plates stored in the bus, and Palestinians plates on the bus. The soldiers insisted the group must wait for the police to arrive and showed no regard for the children who were forced to wait in the heatwithout water.
The police arrived after about forty-five minutes. The children protested while waiting, chanting and crowding around the army and police, saying, "We want to go," and, "We want water." The police and army responded by shouting at the children to go away. After about an hour and a half the police gave the driver of one bus a citation for parking illegally on theroad. The group then left for a tour of Qawawis.
Sunday, 22 July
Chandler and Gish returned to the plot of land near Qawawis where settlers had been working on Friday to join four other internationals in documenting Israeli settlers' efforts on the Palestinian-owned land. Soldiers tried to stop them from going out into the field where the settlers were working, but they went anyway. After the settlers left, they went out and filmed around the work site, where the tractor sat. When they got back to the road, about fifteen teenage settlers came, took their pictures and taunted them. Another military vehicle and police also came to the scene.
When the Palestinian landowners arrived, the CPTers and internationals stood around them and their car to protect them from the settler youth. The landowners spoke to the police, who told them they would have to go to the Kiryat Arba police station the following morning to file their complaint.
Monday, 23 July
The owners of the land where settlers from Susya had been working the previous evening went to the Kiryat Arba police station as directed, but the police did not allow them in to file their complaint.
A Palestinian came by in the evening and told the team he had just returnedfrom the Israeli High Court case regarding the wall along Road 317. The court ruled the Israeli army must disassemble the wall within two weeks and everyday after that time, if they have not removed it, they must pay the Palestinians in villages south of the wall a large sum of money.
Tuesday, 24 July
A Palestinian reported to the team in the late afternoon that the army had started to disassemble the wall along Route 317.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
On Shepherd Boys and Soldiers
From June 30:
We went to meet them this morning at around 7:30am, and they were no where in sight. After climbing over the crest of the hill, I called one of the older men in the family and he said they weren't coming today..."Maybe tomorrow." I can't blame them; I don't think I'd want to come back either.
For the past couple weeks, my teammates and I have been accompanying young shepherd boys as they graze their sheep and work on their olive trees located near the Israeli military base in the area. The base was built in the late 90s and since then, it's been difficult for them to get access to their land. With international accompaniment, they felt more comfortable and decided to give it a go. Several times, Israeli soldiers harrassed the boys while I was there and told them they had to be a certain number of meters from the base...one day it was 300 meters, the next it was 100. I asked them for an order stating the actual distance, and they always said there was none. Usually, the soldiers would ignore the boys until they started to head home with their sheep. Then they would come down from the base and tell them to go home and threaten them in what little Arabic they knew to "Be careful!" I spoke with one soldier on a couple occassions...he said he doesn't agree with everything the army is doing in the area, but he needs to follow orders.
Last night, I conducted a video interview with one of the shepherd boys. A few days earlier, he was punched in the face by an Israeli soldier at the base. Two of my teammates, Nicoletta and Georgia, were present at the time. The soldiers shouted for the boy to come up to the base; Nicoletta called out to him to wait for her. He didn't wait. On the video of the event, you see the boy surrounded by soldiers and then he walks away from the base with blood dripping from his nose. As I replayed the footage for him to identify who hit him, he easily picked out the soldier. It was the gate guard, an Israeli of Ethiopian origin. My heart sank.
Israel has a very diverse population; Jews from all over the world live there. And just as in the United States, certain groups have a harder time than others as they integrate into public life. Ethiopian Jews are newer immigrants to the state of Israel. It is widely talked about that Sephardic Jews (from the Middle East and Africa) do not have nearly as much economic or political power as Ashkenazi Jews (of European origin). They are usually part of the lower classes and there is the feeling that the Ashkenazi elite could care less about their communities and their concerns. Many of the Sephardic Jews that serve in the army have a reputation of being really tough; as if they are trying to prove their loyalty to ensuring the security of Israel. They want to make it known they are part of the state.
I honestly don't know what was going through the soldier's head when he punched the shepherd boy. Perhaps he was ordered to do it, but I felt pained for him and also pained for the 11 year old boy in front of me. They probably have more in common than they know. I think we all share more similarities with our "enemy" than we'd like to admit, both good and bad.
We went to meet them this morning at around 7:30am, and they were no where in sight. After climbing over the crest of the hill, I called one of the older men in the family and he said they weren't coming today..."Maybe tomorrow." I can't blame them; I don't think I'd want to come back either.
For the past couple weeks, my teammates and I have been accompanying young shepherd boys as they graze their sheep and work on their olive trees located near the Israeli military base in the area. The base was built in the late 90s and since then, it's been difficult for them to get access to their land. With international accompaniment, they felt more comfortable and decided to give it a go. Several times, Israeli soldiers harrassed the boys while I was there and told them they had to be a certain number of meters from the base...one day it was 300 meters, the next it was 100. I asked them for an order stating the actual distance, and they always said there was none. Usually, the soldiers would ignore the boys until they started to head home with their sheep. Then they would come down from the base and tell them to go home and threaten them in what little Arabic they knew to "Be careful!" I spoke with one soldier on a couple occassions...he said he doesn't agree with everything the army is doing in the area, but he needs to follow orders.
Last night, I conducted a video interview with one of the shepherd boys. A few days earlier, he was punched in the face by an Israeli soldier at the base. Two of my teammates, Nicoletta and Georgia, were present at the time. The soldiers shouted for the boy to come up to the base; Nicoletta called out to him to wait for her. He didn't wait. On the video of the event, you see the boy surrounded by soldiers and then he walks away from the base with blood dripping from his nose. As I replayed the footage for him to identify who hit him, he easily picked out the soldier. It was the gate guard, an Israeli of Ethiopian origin. My heart sank.
Israel has a very diverse population; Jews from all over the world live there. And just as in the United States, certain groups have a harder time than others as they integrate into public life. Ethiopian Jews are newer immigrants to the state of Israel. It is widely talked about that Sephardic Jews (from the Middle East and Africa) do not have nearly as much economic or political power as Ashkenazi Jews (of European origin). They are usually part of the lower classes and there is the feeling that the Ashkenazi elite could care less about their communities and their concerns. Many of the Sephardic Jews that serve in the army have a reputation of being really tough; as if they are trying to prove their loyalty to ensuring the security of Israel. They want to make it known they are part of the state.
I honestly don't know what was going through the soldier's head when he punched the shepherd boy. Perhaps he was ordered to do it, but I felt pained for him and also pained for the 11 year old boy in front of me. They probably have more in common than they know. I think we all share more similarities with our "enemy" than we'd like to admit, both good and bad.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Clarification on the Last Post
I want to make a clarification on my last post. Someone asked me if the barrier north of At-Tuwani is part of the same large barrier the Israeli government is building around the entire West Bank. The answer is no. They originally wanted to build the large barrier there, but the Israeli High Court ruled they had to build it further south. That is another reason the Court was so angry the Israeli army continued to build any type of structure north of At-Tuwani. Click here to view the route of the current/future large barrier Israel is erecting (select the first map on the right hand side). This map was created by B'tselem, an Israeli human rights organization.
They also have a map of the southern Hebron Hills region (where At-Tuwani is located). Here's a small portion of it:
- Route 317 is the Israeli bypass road north of At-Tuwani.
- The blue areas are Israeli settlements.
- Hill 833 is the Israeli settlement outpost near At-Tuwani. It has been there since 2000. The Israeli government considers settlement outposts to be illegal under their laws (Israeli citizens taking and building upon land without "legal support" of the Israeli state). Avigayil and Mitzpe Yair are also settlement outposts.
- The Palestinian village of Susiya under threat of demolition is near the Israeli settlement of Suseya.
- The red line marks the area the Israeli goverment declared a closed military zone in the 70s and later again in 1999. The Palestinian residents were harrassed by the Israeli army and even forced on trucks to leave the area both times. They won their case to stay on their land in 2000, but they still face scrutiny of their land rights by Israeli settlers in the area and sometimes the army and the Israeli Civil Administration.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
The Gift of Pessimism
I’m now writing stateside. Arrived in Washington, DC on Saturday night and have been spending time resting and seeing old friends. Since I had so little access to Internet while I was in Palestine, I’ll be writing several more posts over the next week or so.
From around July 23:
A couple evenings ago, my teammates and I were sitting down to lentils and curry outside of our house in At-Tuwani when one of the villagers walked by and greeted us. “Salaam alaykum,” he said with an unusually large grin. He said he had just come from an Israeli High Court case on the low barrier wall the Israeli army had built along the Israeli bypass road north of the village in early 2006. This barrier has often prevented Palestinians in villages south of it from reaching the nearby larger towns to buy/sell supplies or visit family members. The army made a hole in the wall to allow donkeys to pass by and occasionally cars, but would close it as they saw fit.
Our Palestinian friend continued to smile as he told us the Israeli High Court ruled the barrier to be illegal. He said the judge was very angry with the Israeli army officials who had been involved in the planning and building of the barrier, as they never sought permission to build it in the first place. The army has two weeks to dismantle it, and every day after that point they must pay Palestinian villages south of the barrier 20,000 shekels a day. This also means the demonstration held against the barrier over a year ago was legal…several Palestinians had been arrested during that demonstration, first on charges they had assaulted Israeli soldiers (video footage proved those charges to be false) and then on charges the demonstration itself was illegal. With the court’s new ruling on the barrier, these Palestinians may finally be able to get back the money they were forced to pay to the Israeli police and receive public recognition they were wrongfully arrested.
I was elated to hear of the court’s ruling! It’s not often you get good news in these parts. The next day, I even heard the army was beginning to tear down portions of the wall west of At-Tuwani. Over the past couple days, I’ve asked a lot of people in the village their opinions of the ruling, and have been surprised with the lack of enthusiasm in their responses. One man said, “Well, we’ll see if they actually dismantle the entire thing.” Another haji (old woman) remarked, “Even if they do dismantle it, that doesn’t prevent them from building something else…The army does as they please; we learned that a long time ago.”
At first, I was a little annoyed with their skepticism, and then I began to realize the wisdom in their responses. Before I left the states, I was reading a book by John Paul Lederach called The Moral Imagination. Lederach is a professor at several universities in Peace and Conflict Resolution programs and has been a practitioner in the field for over 25 years. Hearing the responses of Palestinians in At-Tuwani reminded me of one of the chapters in Lederach’s book entitled On the Gift of Pessimism:
We are not talking here of an attitude born of cynicism…Pessimism born of cynicism is a luxurious avoidance of engagement…The key gift is this: Constructive pessimism teaches us that distrust is needed as a reality check to assure that change is not superficial, Pollyanna-ish, or disguising other intentions. Distrust assures us that we are not dipping into and promoting cheap hope; it keeps us authentic. (55, 61)
My friends’ life-experiences living under violence and oppression have honed a gift of survival within their communities. One Palestinian leader’s words typify this gift and the hope it brings. I don’t remember his words exactly, but they went something like this: “If the wall is dismantled, we will make a big celebration/action out of it and invite press, Israelis, and internationals to see that our efforts and struggle have made this small change. And then we will move onto the next challenge, as there are many. And we hope more people will begin to join us in our struggle.”
He knows they may have to return to this challenge depending on what the army does. Wisely, his hope is not in this ruling, in this seeming victory. It is much deeper than that, rooted in taking one day at a time. Being present to what is and pushing onward to new realities and relationships.
The barrier on a day when the army has closed the opening. Most Palestinians can't afford or get permits to drive on the Israeli bypass road you see in the photo.
From the demonstration against the barrier in June 2006.
From around July 23:
A couple evenings ago, my teammates and I were sitting down to lentils and curry outside of our house in At-Tuwani when one of the villagers walked by and greeted us. “Salaam alaykum,” he said with an unusually large grin. He said he had just come from an Israeli High Court case on the low barrier wall the Israeli army had built along the Israeli bypass road north of the village in early 2006. This barrier has often prevented Palestinians in villages south of it from reaching the nearby larger towns to buy/sell supplies or visit family members. The army made a hole in the wall to allow donkeys to pass by and occasionally cars, but would close it as they saw fit.
Our Palestinian friend continued to smile as he told us the Israeli High Court ruled the barrier to be illegal. He said the judge was very angry with the Israeli army officials who had been involved in the planning and building of the barrier, as they never sought permission to build it in the first place. The army has two weeks to dismantle it, and every day after that point they must pay Palestinian villages south of the barrier 20,000 shekels a day. This also means the demonstration held against the barrier over a year ago was legal…several Palestinians had been arrested during that demonstration, first on charges they had assaulted Israeli soldiers (video footage proved those charges to be false) and then on charges the demonstration itself was illegal. With the court’s new ruling on the barrier, these Palestinians may finally be able to get back the money they were forced to pay to the Israeli police and receive public recognition they were wrongfully arrested.
I was elated to hear of the court’s ruling! It’s not often you get good news in these parts. The next day, I even heard the army was beginning to tear down portions of the wall west of At-Tuwani. Over the past couple days, I’ve asked a lot of people in the village their opinions of the ruling, and have been surprised with the lack of enthusiasm in their responses. One man said, “Well, we’ll see if they actually dismantle the entire thing.” Another haji (old woman) remarked, “Even if they do dismantle it, that doesn’t prevent them from building something else…The army does as they please; we learned that a long time ago.”
At first, I was a little annoyed with their skepticism, and then I began to realize the wisdom in their responses. Before I left the states, I was reading a book by John Paul Lederach called The Moral Imagination. Lederach is a professor at several universities in Peace and Conflict Resolution programs and has been a practitioner in the field for over 25 years. Hearing the responses of Palestinians in At-Tuwani reminded me of one of the chapters in Lederach’s book entitled On the Gift of Pessimism:
We are not talking here of an attitude born of cynicism…Pessimism born of cynicism is a luxurious avoidance of engagement…The key gift is this: Constructive pessimism teaches us that distrust is needed as a reality check to assure that change is not superficial, Pollyanna-ish, or disguising other intentions. Distrust assures us that we are not dipping into and promoting cheap hope; it keeps us authentic. (55, 61)
My friends’ life-experiences living under violence and oppression have honed a gift of survival within their communities. One Palestinian leader’s words typify this gift and the hope it brings. I don’t remember his words exactly, but they went something like this: “If the wall is dismantled, we will make a big celebration/action out of it and invite press, Israelis, and internationals to see that our efforts and struggle have made this small change. And then we will move onto the next challenge, as there are many. And we hope more people will begin to join us in our struggle.”
He knows they may have to return to this challenge depending on what the army does. Wisely, his hope is not in this ruling, in this seeming victory. It is much deeper than that, rooted in taking one day at a time. Being present to what is and pushing onward to new realities and relationships.
The barrier on a day when the army has closed the opening. Most Palestinians can't afford or get permits to drive on the Israeli bypass road you see in the photo.
From the demonstration against the barrier in June 2006.
